Amazing Fantasy Vol 1 15
| Editor-in-Chief = Stan Lee | CoverArtist1 = Jack Kirby | CoverArtist2 = Steve Ditko | Quotation = My fault -- all my fault! If only I had stopped him when I could have! But I didn't -- and now -- Uncle Ben -- is dead... | Speaker = Spider-Man | StoryTitle1 = Spider-Man! | Writer1_1 = Stan Lee | Penciler1_1 = Steve Ditko | Inker1_1 = Steve Ditko | Colourist1_1 = | Letterer1_1 = Artie Simek | Editor1_1 = Stan Lee | Synopsis1 = Part 1 A shy, unassuming high-school student, Peter Parker prefers the company of his teachers to that of his classmates, who call him "Midtown High's only professional wallflower." His only living relatives, Uncle Ben and Aunt May, think the world of him. One evening, while attending a demonstration of radioactivity at General Techtronics Laboratories East, Parker fails to notice a spider drop through a "radioactive ray" and receive a massive dose of radiation. It bites him and dies. Light-headed, Parker leaves the demonstration, only to be nearly run over by a car. He leaps to safety, but is surprised to find he has jumped much further than intended—he lands on the side of a building and is clinging to the bricks by his fingertips. He quickly climbs to the roof and, once there, accidentally crumples a steel pipe in his hand. He believes that he has inherited the spider's speed, strength, and climbing ability. He begins to ponder the possibilities. Shortly thereafter, Parker sees a wrestling ring and a sign: "$100 to the man who can stay in the ring three minutes with Crusher Hogan." He goes home, changes, puts on a hood, and returns to the ring. Hogan laughingly calls Parker the "Masked Marvel," but then Parker lifts Hogan over his head and carries him up a post. Afterward, a man in the crowd introduces himself to Parker as a television producer, encourages him to go into show business, and gives him his card. At home, Parker makes himself a spider-themed costume, a supply of sticky web fluid, and two jets for his wrists that can shoot the fluid. "Here comes the Spider-Man!" he says. Part 2 The Spider-Man appears on television and becomes a celebrity. One evening, he goes backstage and finds a guard chasing a thief. Spider-Man lets the thief escape and, when the guard complains, tells him, "That's your job! I'm thru being pushed around ... by anyone!" Some days later, Parker gets home and learns from a policeman that a burglar has killed his Uncle Ben. The police have cornered the man in the deserted Acme warehouse. Parker dons his costume and swings to the scene. Once inside, he frightens the man by crawling down the wall toward him. Parker then covers his gun hand with web fluid and KOs him. When he sees the man's face, he recognizes the thief who got away at the studio. He wraps the burglar in webbing and leaves him for the police to find. Shocked, Peter realizes that if he had caught the burglar, his Uncle Ben would still be alive. He eventually learns that with great power comes great responsibility. | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * * * * * , one of Peter's teachers * Villains: * Other Characters: * Midtown High students * Scientists * * * , television producer * * Security guard Locations: * * ** *** *** *** *** Television Studio Items: * | StoryTitle2 = The Bell-Ringer! | Writer2_1 = Stan Lee | Penciler2_1 = Steve Ditko | Inker2_1 = Steve Ditko | Colourist2_1 = | Letterer2_1 = Artie Simek | Editor2_1 = Stan Lee | Synopsis2 = On a small Mediterranean island of fisherfolk, Old Pedros is the town bell-ringer. One day the volcano atop the island begins to erupt. The villagers evacuate and put out to sea. Old Pedros, though, stays at the church. "The bells must be rung," he tells himself. "Someone will hear. For centuries someone has always heard!" Molten rock streams toward the church. Before it reaches Old Pedros, a ray of sunlight surrounds him. The superstitious villagers swear they saw him ride that ray into the sky. Did their eyes play tricks on them, or did Someone hear the bells? | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Old Pedros Supporting Characters: * Other villagers Locations: * Mediterranean island | StoryTitle3 = Man in the Mummy Case! | Writer3_1 = Stan Lee | Penciler3_1 = Steve Ditko | Inker3_1 = Steve Ditko | Colourist3_1 = | Letterer3_1 = Artie Simek | Editor3_1 = Stan Lee | Synopsis3 = Rocco Rank, a career criminal, breaks into a museum to escape a policeman. While he looks for a hiding place, he hears mummy's voice promising to protect him from the police. All he has to do is lie in a sarcophagus. The mummy reassures Rank that he will not suffocate or become another mummy. Rank finally agrees and gets into the sarcophagus, which the mummy shuts. The policeman double back, finds a broken window, and searches the room. The mummy is motionless, and the sarcophagus is empty, so he leaves. Rank is safe from the police ... but he has become a slave building the Pyramids. | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * Rocco Rank Villains: * Mummmy * Egyptian slavedriver Other Characters: * Police officer Locations: * * Museum * Items: * Sarcophagus | StoryTitle4 = There Are Martians among Us! | Writer4_1 = Stan Lee | Penciler4_1 = Steve Ditko | Inker4_1 = Steve Ditko | Colourist4_1 = | Letterer4_1 = Artie Simek | Editor4_1 = Stan Lee | Synopsis4 = The discovery of a crashed flying saucer frightens a small town, especially when the townspeople realize that the Martians are among them. A month goes by with the aliens still at large. A man leaves for the city and tells his wife to stay in the house where she is safe. Later that day, though, she has to go to the store for coffee. On her way home she is captured! When her husband gets home and finds her missing, he makes a desperate phone call ... to another Martian, who like him must have four arms .... | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Martian woman and her husband Supporting Characters: * None Villains: * None Other Characters: * Police * Searchers * TV reporter Locations: * Unknown Vehicles: * Flying saucer | Notes = * This was the last Amazing Fantasy comic until 1995. This is also the first one called Amazing Fantasy instead of Amazing Adult Fantasy. * Though the conclusion of "Spider-Man!" invites readers to return for the next issue, this would be the final issue of Amazing Fantasy (successor to Amazing Adventures and Amazing Adult Fantasy). In 1995, editor Danny Fingeroth inserted three stories (Amazing Fantasy #16-18) between this one and Spider-Man's next appearance, in Amazing Spider-Man #1 (March 1963). * Artie Simek was credited in this issue as Art Simek. * The "science hall" where Peter attended the demonstration was later identified as General Techtronics Laboratories East. * The television producer was later identified as Maxie Shiffman, the policemen who tells Peter Parker of his uncle's death as Bernard O'Brien. From the group of High School students, only Flash Thompson's full name is given, the others would not be given names until later, including Liz Allen and Seymour O'Reilly. Sally Avril is named by first name, but she would not be seen again for another thirty years until her reappearance in . * establishes that this story takes place during Peter Parker's sophomore year in high school. * The Spider-Man story was reprinted in and (Pocket Books). | Trivia = *The cover ultimately published for Amazing Fantasy #15 was not the one originally planned. Originally, Steve Ditko both penciled and inked the cover, but at the last minute Stan Lee decided to have Jack Kirby come in and redo it. Brian Cronin,"Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #31!", Comics Should Be Good, ComicBookResources.com: December 29, 2005. *The date on the cover (August) is one month earlier than the date in the insignia (September 1962) for this issue. *The "Experiments in Radio-Activity" exhibit (where Parker got his spider bite) was in room 30 of the science hall. *The television producer tells Parker that should go on The Ed Sullivan Show, which ran on CBS between 1955 and 1971 (and from 1948 to 1955 as Toast of the Town). *Anthology titles like Amazing Fantasy presented stories that were usually only three to five pages long. The "Spider-Man!" story was therefore divided into two parts, even though Part 2 immediately followed Part 1. *The Spider-Man story uses the word spectacular to refer to a television show. Today the preferred term would be special. * Plot elements in the live action Spider-Man movie originate from this issue. *The cover of this issue appears in the comic galleries from the video games The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Sega CD version) and Spider-Man. | Recommended = *Chronologically, Spider-Man appears next in , although the next published issue was . *The Burglar appears next in . *Ben Parker's funeral is shown in . *Although the death of Uncle Ben is not shown in this issue, it can be partly seen in a flashback in and is fully depicted in . *A more detailed version of this origin story is told in . * The unnamed Security Guard appears next in . | Links = * Spiderfan.org * SamRuby.com }}